The fortunes of war in 1862 find Sergeant John Mulroy captured by Confederate regulars. As a prisoner he is sent to Andersonville Prison for the duration of the conflict. Thousands of Union Army prisoners mill about in the acres of open space, surrounded by a stockade fence armed by Confederate guards. The miasma of unwashed bodies, excrement, gangrene, decay, and death combine to take Mulroy's breath away. Disease and violent death are daily visitors among the prison's ranks. Captain Henri Wirz, a foreigner in the Confederate Army, was shot in the arm and forced to give up field service, so he was put in charge of the prison. Men who get near the stockade wall are shot by the prison guards. There is not enough food so men who do not die of their wounds are slowly being starved to death. Mulroy is determined to escape, and befriends Cal Blackwood, a Confederate irregular who is one of the guards. A part of Cal wants to run with Mulroy, another part wants to make his flight secure by killing him.

Tim Champlin was born John Michael Champlin in Fargo, North Dakota. He began his Western writing career with Summer of the Sioux in 1982.